The Arizona Board of Regents renewed Director of Athletics Jim Livengood's contract March 11, extending his employment five more years and increasing his salary.
Livengood will earn a base salary of $345,000 beginning July 1, an increase of $25,000 from his last contract.
In addition to his pay increase, Livengood is eligible to earn performance-based additional payments, which will depend on sports teams' performances.
If UA football makes it to the Bowl Championship Series, Livengood would earn $28,750 as an addition to his original contract.
Livengood could receive a smaller one-time bonus if the football team qualifies to play in any bowl game.
Qualifying team sports, including men's basketball, could earn Livengood a bonus up to about $14,375. If individual sports, such as tennis and swimming, have an outstanding season and make it to championship games, Livengood could earn antoher bonus of up to $14,375.
Livengood will also receive a bonus of up to $28,750 if the Student Athlete Graduation Rate is higher than the General University Graduation Rate. He will also be rewarded if student-athlete GPAs are higher than the general student population.
Livengood's performance-based additional payments, if he qualifies for any, will be rewarded to him once a year.
Regents decided to renew his contract because of his accomplishments in the last five years.
The Tucson Chamber of Commerce recently named Livengood Tucson's 2004 Man of the Year because of his accomplishments in athletics and volunteering in the community.
Regents decided to create the Doctor of Juridical Science, Scientiea Juridicae doctorate degree, in the College of Law and eliminate the Nuclear Engineering graduate program.
The Scientiea Juridicae doctorate degree will train graduates in legal research and writing about legal issues.
The new degree is a step up from the Juridicae Doctor because it will require graduates to demonstrate skills in a specific area of law to prepare them for teaching, said Provost George Davis.
The projected student enrollment for the degree is about two to 10 students a year, Davis said.
The board eliminated the Master of Science and doctorate in nuclear engineering because of low student enrollment, low research activity and faculty transferring the to Aerospace Mechanical Engineering Program.
Currently, one doctorate student is enrolled in the Nuclear Engineering program. This student will be given his degree as scheduled.
Without a graduate program, the university no longer has a use for the research reactor in the Engineering building. To disassemble the reactor, the university will have to pay about $2 million.
Regents voted to sell 43 acres of undeveloped land in New River, Maricopa County because the university has no plans for using it.
The land, which is located north of Phoenix just west of Interstate 17, was accumulated between 1973 and 1983 and is worth about $1 million.
The board voted to auction the land to the highest bidder, with profits distributed to the College of Medicine, scholarships for the College of Law, the surgery department and the Center for Creative Photography. The donor who gave the land to the UA specified if the land were sold, profits must be distributed to those areas.
Regents voted to exchange 140 acres of land at the UA Science and Technology Park for 65 acres of KB Home property because the university wants to develop a second science research location.
The proposed UA bioscience park, which would sit on the former KB property on East 36th Street and South Kino Boulevard, would work to develop new medicines and drugs to introduce to the public.
The land is close to the UA campus, the Arizona Health Sciences Center, the University Physicians Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital, giving students and faculty close proximity to the facilities, said Bruce Wright, the associate vice president for economic development.
Although the UA will be losing 75 acres of land in the exchange, the 65 acres of the new land is valued the same as the 140 acres of land that KB Homes will now own.
The new land will be "development ready" for the university, which means KB Homes will construct the primary roads and water, sewer, electricity and natural gas pipes, Wright said.
KB Homes will use the 140 acres of once-UA property for residential and commercials sites.
The Arizona Board of Regents agreed to pay $5.38 million so the UA and Arizona State University can have access to National LambdaRail, a national project creating an advanced data network for research.
The $5.38 million will secure a five-year membership to California for Education Network Initiatives in California, which will allow UA and ASU direct access to the LamdaRail.
The network will also provide UA with consolidation for Internet2, which provides data sharing relating to research and education.
By joining the California network, the UA and ASU can save about $3.45 million more than if they pursued memberships to the Internet2 and LambdaRail separately, said Sally Jackson, the vice president and chief information officer.
The California network will also give the UA and ASU access to a high performance research network, a digital network and an experimental network that researchers can use to manipulate variables.
The UA and ASU will have access to the services July 1.